United Advances In U.S. Open Cup

United 3, Red Bulls 1

D.C. United's Domenic Mediate is held up by New York Red Bulls' Edson Buddle during the first half. (Nick Wass - AP)

These have not been the finest days for Jamil Walker or D.C. United, what with the reserve forward having gone four months without a goal in regular season play and the Eastern Conference's front-running club winless in its last four MLS matches.

With his scoring troubles mirroring his team's, Walker had missed a last-minute chance to win a game a week ago and failed to convert in the second half last weekend.

Last night, however, the fortunes of both the player and the team took a positive turn.

Following an incoherent start by United, Walker scored twice after halftime and United pulled away for a 3-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal before 8,637 at RFK Stadium. D.C. will travel to Chicago -- a 2-1 winner over New England -- on Sept. 6 as it continues its pursuit of its first tournament title since 1996.

"It's a confidence-booster," Walker said of his goals. "You work hard to get the chances and you're not going to score all of them, but in the crucial moments, you want to score the easy ones. I wasn't able to do that the last couple games."

After United's Josh Gros and New York's Amado Guevara exchanged goals before halftime, Walker struck in the 61st and 84th minutes. The first came in untraditional fashion off Alecko Eskandarian's free kick, the second on a simple one-on-one finish against goalkeeper Tony Meola.

Walker -- whose only league goal came in late April at New York -- also scored the game-winner in United's previous Open Cup match, an overtime header against Columbus three weeks ago.

"We're happy for him," Eskandarian said. "It wasn't so much him getting down on himself, but I think it was other people getting down on him. When you have that many chances and don't convert, people start questioning you a little bit. Every player goes through it. As forwards, we take pride in our job, we work hard and it's a matter of time before your work pays off."

On the go-ahead goal, Eskandarian launched a free kick from about 30 yards deep into the penalty area. Amid a cluster of players, Walker made contact with his upper body and then pushed it into the net.

"It was somewhere around this region," Walker said, gesturing in a circle near his head, neck and shoulder. "It just deflected. I wasn't really paying attention. When it fell down, it was like, 'Uh, there you go.' It was right in front of me, so I just tapped it in. It's not like I made a play on it; it just hit me."

Later, Ben Olsen slipped a pass to Walker for a clean run at Meola and a low shot into the left corner.

"As a forward, you know you are going to have some ups and downs," he said. "I get disappointed, but I work hard to get those chances again and try to finish them off."

Walker was among five reserves to start last night. Fiercely competitive as he is, Coach Peter Nowak realized his regulars needed a break during this taxing stretch of the summer. So , in a tournament that does not carry the weight of the MLS regular season, he called on his bench.

Two moves were predictable -- Clyde Simms replaced Christian Gomez, who suffered a minor knee injury over the weekend, and goalkeeper Nick Rimando made his second straight Open Cup start.

Domenic Mediate (two regular season starts) lined up on the right flank, giving Freddy Adu the night off. (Adu suffered a knee contusion Tuesday and was not on the 18-man active roster.) Walker started at forward in place of Jaime Moreno and rookie midfielder Rod Dyachenko inherited Gomez's playmaker role, which allowed Olsen to watch until the 59th minute (Moreno also entered at that point). Dyachenko has only appeared in two league games, but earned time against Real Madrid and was a late addition into the Open Cup match against Columbus.

"He develops the right way," Nowak said. "The potential he has is enormous."

Dyachenko helped set up the first goal, heading down Mediate's high ball and allowing Gros to sweep it into the net. Guevara answered four minutes later, collecting the rebound of Marvell Wynne's shot that Rimando had blocked.

United will return to regular season play Saturday night against Los Angeles at RFK.